Next year's budget could contain measures to encourage people to save more, Prime Minister John Key says.The international credit rating agency, Standard and Poor's, today revised New Zealand's outlook from stable to negative and Mr Key said he believed i
Next year's budget could contain measures to encourage people to save more, Prime Minister John Key says.
The international credit rating agency, Standard and Poor's, today revised New Zealand's outlook from stable to negative and Mr Key said he believed it was focusing on countries with high levels of foreign debt.
"That is true of New Zealand, external liabilities are very high and largely sourced from foreigners," Mr Key said.
"What is also true is the make-up of those borrowings is largely private sector driven."
Mr Key said the Government had already moved to encourage people to save more and spend less, through the tax changes in this year's budget.
"They are all aimed at putting the right incentives into the economy to encourage New Zealanders to save more and be less reliant on borrowings," he said.
The Government had also appointed the Savings Working Group which was due to report to the Government by the end of this year or early next year.
"We want to increase national savings to a higher level," he said.
"It may well be that the focus of Budget 2011 is based off a view that we want to increase national savings to a higher level but it's too early to determine that because we haven't seen the report."
